Automatically assessing an anatomical surface feature and securely managing information related to the same

ABSTRACT

A facility for procuring and analyzing information about an anatomical surface feature from a caregiver that is usable to generate an assessment of the surface feature is described. The facility displays information about the surface feature used in the assessment of the surface feature. The facility obtains user input and/or data generated by an image capture device to assess the surface feature or update an existing assessment of the surface feature.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/144,722, filed May 2, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology is generally related to devices, systems, andmethods for assessing anatomical surface features and securely managinginformation related to the same.

BACKGROUND

Various techniques have been used to monitor anatomical surfacefeatures, such as wounds, ulcers, sores, lesions, tumors etc. (hereinreferred to collectively as “surface features”) both within hospitalsand outside hospitals (e.g. domiciliary-based care, primary carefacilities, hospice and palliative care facilities, etc.). Wounds, forexample, are typically concave and up to about 250 millimeters across.Manual techniques are often labor-intensive and require examination andcontact by skilled personnel. Such measurements may be inaccurate, andthere may be significant variation between measurements made bydifferent personnel. Further, these approaches may not preserve anyvisual record for review by an expert or for subsequent comparison.Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems for assessing surfacefeatures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed on illustratingclearly the principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing some of the components typicallyincorporated in at least some of the computer systems and other deviceson which the facility executes.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to automatically assess an anatomical surface feature of ahuman patient.

FIG. 3 is a display diagram showing a sample display typically presentedby the facility to permit the user to enter a username and password toaccess the facility.

FIG. 4 is a display diagram showing a sample display typically presentedby the facility to permit the user to select an existing patient profileand/or create a new patient profile.

FIG. 5A is a display diagram showing a sample display typicallypresented by the facility to display surface feature information for aselected patient and enable the user to capture additional images of thesurface feature.

FIG. 5B is a display diagram showing a sample display typicallypresented by the facility to enable the user to automatically couple aparticular capture device to the facility.

FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a sample display typically presentedby the facility to display one or more captured images and enable theuser to assign a new image to a pre-existing wound.

FIG. 7 is a display diagram showing a sample display typically presentedby the facility to display a captured image of a surface feature andenable the user to outline the perimeter of the surface feature withinthe captured image.

FIG. 8 is a display diagram showing a portion of the display shown inFIG. 7 after the facility has determined one or more measurementscharacterizing the surface feature and has displayed those measurementsto the user.

FIG. 9 is a display diagram showing a sample display typically presentedby the facility to present an updated surface feature assessment for aselected patient.

FIGS. 10A-10D are display diagrams showing sample displays typicallypresented by the facility to enable the user to provide notescharacterizing the surface feature.

FIG. 11 is a display diagram showing a sample display typicallypresented by the facility when the user selects the create reportbutton.

FIGS. 12A-12D are display diagrams showing a sample display typicallypresented by the facility to display a report characterizing the surfacefeature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Described herein is a software facility for automatically assessing ananatomical surface feature (“the facility”), such as a wound, and formanaging information related to assessed anatomical surface featuresacross a range of patients and institutions. While the followingdiscussion liberally employs the term “wound” to refer to the anatomicalsurface feature(s) being assessed, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the facility may be straightforwardly applied toanatomical surface features of other types, such as ulcers, sores,lesions, tumors, bruises, bums, moles, psoriasis, keloids, skin cancers,erythema, cellulitis, and the like. Similarly, a wide variety of usersmay use the facility, including doctors, nurses, technologists, or anyother caregiver of the patient.

As used herein, the terms “computer” and “computing device” generallyrefer to devices that have a processor and non-transitory memory, aswell as any data processor or any device capable of communicating with anetwork. Data processors include programmable general-purpose orspecial-purpose microprocessors, programmable controllers,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programming logicdevices (PLDs), system on chip (SOC) or system on module (SOM)(“SOC/SOM”), an ARM class CPU with embedded Linux or Android operatingsystem or the like, or a combination of such devices.Computer-executable instructions may be stored in memory, such as randomaccess memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, or the like,or a combination of such components. Computer-executable instructionsmay also be stored in one or more storage devices, such as magnetic oroptical-based disks, flash memory devices, or any other type ofnon-volatile storage medium or non-transitory medium for data.Computer-executable instructions may include one or more programmodules, which include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types.

Anatomical Surface Feature Assessment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sample environment having multiplecomponents n which the facility executes. The environment 100 mayinclude one or more capture devices 102, one or more personal computingdevices 104, one or more server computers 106, and one or morepersistent storage devices 108. The capture device 102 and the personalcomputing device 104 communicate (wirelessly or through a wiredconnection) with the server computer 106 through a network 140 such as,for example, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN),and/or the Internet. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the capturedevice 102 does not communicate directly with the personal computingdevice 104. For example, the capture device 102 may communicatewirelessly with a first base station or access point 142 using awireless mobile telephone standard, such as the Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), or another wireless standard, such as IEEE 802.11,and the first base station or access point 142 communicates with theserver computer 106 via the network 140. Likewise, the computing device104 may communicate wirelessly with a second base station or accesspoint 144 using a wireless mobile telephone standard, such as the GlobalSystem for Mobile Communication (GSM), or another wireless standard,such as IEEE 802.11, and the second base station or access point 144communicates with the server computer 106 via the network 140. As such,confidential patient data generated by the capture device 102 is onlytemporarily stored locally, or not at all, and instead is permanentlystored at the storage device 108 associated with the server computer106. The facility can be practiced on any of the computing devicesdisclosed herein (e.g., one or more personal computing devices 104, oneor more server computers 106, etc.), and may include an interface modulethat generates graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to allow users to accessthe facility (as described in greater detail below with reference toFIGS. 3-12D).

The personal computing device 104 can include one or more portablecomputing devices 120 (e.g., a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet, etc.)and/or one or more desktop computing devices 122. During data capturewith the capture device 102 at the point-of-care, the personal computingdevice 104 may also be present (i.e., in the same treatment room), orthe personal computing device 104 may be remote (i.e., outside of thetreatment room but in the same treatment facility, outside of thetreatment room and remote from the treatment facility, etc.). Thedesktop computing devices 122, if utilized, are typically associatedwith a particular property, e.g., a medical treatment center 124 (e.g.,a hospital, a doctor's office, a clinic, etc.). The portable computingdevices 120 and desktop computing devices 124 communicate with eachother and the server computer 106 through networks including, forexample, the Internet. In some instances the portable computing devices120 and desktop computing devices 122 may communicate with each otherthrough other wireless protocols, such as near field or Bluetooth.

The capture device 102 is a handheld, portable imaging device thatincludes one or more sensing devices for generating data characterizingthe wound (“wound data”) at the point-of-care. In the embodiment shownin FIG. 1, the capture device 102 includes an image sensor 110 (e.g., adigital camera), a depth sensor 112 (also known as a “range imager”),and a computing device 116 (shown schematically) in communication withthe image sensor 110 and the depth sensor 112. The computing device 116is also in wireless communication with the server computer 106 (e.g.,via the network 140). The image sensor 110 is configured to generateimage data of the wound (e.g., pixels containing RGB color data), andthe depth sensor 112 is configured to generate depth data characterizingthe depth or topography of the wound. For example, in some embodimentsthe depth sensor 112 is a structured light device configured to emitstructured light (e.g., one or more lasers, DLP projectors, filmprojectors, etc. where the emitted light may be infra-red, visible,ultraviolet, etc.) in a predetermined arrangement toward the wound. Insuch embodiments, for example, the depth sensor 112 may comprise threelaser elements (labeled 112 a-112 c) spaced apart around a circumferenceof the capture device 102. The laser elements 112 a-112 c have a fixedpositional relationship with respect to one another, and also withrespect to the image sensor 110. Together the laser elements 112 a-112 ccan be configured to create a structured light pattern (e.g., a laserpoint(s), a laser fan(s), etc.) In other embodiments, the depth sensor112 can include other suitable devices for range imaging, such as anultrasonic sensor, a stereo camera, a plenoptic camera, a time-of-flightcamera, etc..

The capture device 102 also includes a rechargeable power source and anactuator 118 (e.g., a button, a switch, etc.) for initiating datacapture. When a user presses the button 118, the computing device 116simultaneously activates both the image sensor 110 and the depth sensor112 to generate both the image data and the depth data. The computingdevice 116 then communicates the image data and the depth data to theremote server computer 106 for further processing by the facility. Insome embodiments, the computing device 116 wirelessly communicates withthe server computer 106 (e.g., over a network). Such a cordlessarrangement can be advantageous as it allows the user greater freedom ofmovement with the capture device 102, which can be especially beneficialwhen trying to access certain anatomical locations. Also, the absence ofa cord reduces the surface area available at the point-of-care on whichbacteria and/or other unwanted microorganisms may bind and travel. Insome embodiments, the capture device 102 may be permanently cordless(i.e., no input port), and in other embodiments, the capture device 102may be configured to detachably receive an electronic connector, such asa power cord or a USB cord. The computing device 116 may automaticallytransfer the captured data to the remote server computer 106 (e.g., overthe network 140) at the moment the data is captured. In certainembodiments, however, the computing device 116 may not be incommunication with the network 140; in such scenarios, the captured datamay be temporarily stored in the volatile and/or non-volatile memory ofthe capture device 102 for later transfer to the server computer 106.

The capture device 102 may include additional features for enhancingdata collection of the wound, such as one or more light sources 114(e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an incandescent light source, anultraviolet light source, etc.) for illuminating the wound before orduring data capture, an indicator (not shown) configured to provide avisual and/or audio signal (e.g., images, text, lights, etc.) to theuser, a thermal camera, a video camera, and/or one or more input/outputdevices (e.g., a microphone, a speaker, a port for communicatingelectrically with external components, such as a power source, thepersonal computing device 104, etc.). In some embodiments, the capturedevice 102 is configured for wireless charging, e.g., via a dock orcradle (not shown). In such embodiments, the charging cradle may alsoserve as an access point for the network 140. As discussed in greaterdetail below with reference to FIGS. 5A-5B, the capture device 102and/or image sensor 110 may also be configured to capture images ofbarcodes and/or QR codes displayed on the computing device 104, such asa barcode and/or a QR code that enable the capture device 102 to connectto the network 140.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the capture device 102 mayhave other configurations than that shown in FIG. 1. For example,although the image sensor 110, depth sensor 112, and computing device116 are shown as part of a single component and/or within the samehousing, in other embodiments, any or all of the of the image sensor110, the depth sensor 112, and the computing device 116 can be separatecomponents. Likewise, in some embodiments, the capture device 102 doesnot include separate image and depth sensors, and instead includes astereo camera that is configured to generate both image data and depthdata. Additional details regarding suitable capture devices 102 andmethods of use can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,755,053, filed May 11,2009 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,179,844, filed Nov. 27, 2012, both of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

As discussed above, the facility may include an interface module thatgenerates graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to allow users to access thefacility. The interface module also provides application programminginterfaces (APIs) to enable communication and interfacing with thefacility. APIs may be used by other applications, web portals, ordistributed system components to use the system. For example, anapplication operating on a personal computing device may use an API tointerface with system servers and receive capture data from the system.The API may utilize, for example, Representational State Transfer (REST)architecture and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) protocols.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to assess a wound of a patient and/or manage data (includingmeta data) related to the wound. At step 202, the facility provides adisplay that solicits the user to enter login information (e.g., ausername and password) to permit the user to access the facility and/orthe storage device 108 (see, for example, FIG. 3). At step 204, thefacility solicits the user to identify the patient having a woundneeding assessment (see, for example, FIG. 4). If the patient is new tothe database, the facility enables the user to create a new datastructure (or profile) for the patient, and a new data structure (orprofile) for the wound that is associated with the patient's profile. Ifthe patient already exists in the database, then the facility displays aunique identifier for the patient or otherwise enables the user toaccess the already-existing patient profile. Once the facility hasidentified the patient, the facility solicits the user to identify thewound to be reviewed and/or assessed (see, for example, FIG. 5A). If thewound has not yet been entered into the patient profile, the facilityenables the user to create a new data structure (or profile) for thewound and associates that data structure with the already-existingpatient profile. If the wound already exists in the patient profile,then the facility displays a unique identifier for the particular woundor otherwise enables the user to access the already-existing woundprofile. At some point after the facility has identified thecorresponding patient and wound profile, the facility receives new imagedata, new depth data, and new outline data characterizing the wound andassigns the new data to the wound profile (steps 208-210). As shown atsteps 212-214, the facility then analyzes this data to determine one ormore wound measurements (such as wound area and wound volume), anddisplays the wound measurements to the user.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the steps shown in FIG. 2may be altered in a variety of ways. For example, the order of the stepsmay be rearranged, sub steps may be performed in parallel, shown stepsmay be omitted, other steps may be included, etc.

FIGS. 3-12D contain sample displays presented by the facility in someembodiments in performing portions of the method shown in FIG. 2. In thefollowing discussion, the user interacts with the facility through aweb-based interface, and thus all tasks or modules of the facility areperformed at a remote server computer (such as server computer 106).However, the facility can also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments, where tasks or modules of the facility are performed bymultiple remote processing devices (such as the personal computingdevice 104 and the server computer 106), which are linked through acommunications network, such as a Local Area Network (“LAN”), Wide AreaNetwork (“WAN”), or the Internet. For example, those skilled in therelevant art will recognize that portions of the facility may reside ona server computer, while corresponding portions reside on a remote orpersonal computing device. In such a distributed computing environment,program modules or subroutines may be located in and executed on bothlocal and remote memory storage devices. Aspects of the facilitydescribed herein may be stored or distributed on tangible,non-transitory computer-readable media, including magnetic and opticallyreadable and removable computer discs, stored in firmware in chips(e.g., EEPROM chips). Alternatively, aspects of the facility may bedistributed electronically over the Internet or over other networks(including wireless networks).

To begin a wound assessment, a caregiver may first provide a usernameand password to gain access to the interface module. For example, FIG. 3is a display diagram showing a sample display 300 typically presented bythe facility that solicits the user to enter a username and password toaccess the programs and data stored at the storage device 108. As shownin FIG. 3, the display 300 includes a username field 302 and a passwordfield 304.

FIG. 4 is a display diagram showing a sample display 400 typicallypresented by the facility to permit the user to select an existingpatient profile and/or create a new patient profile. The display 400includes a generic search field 412 for searching for a particularpatient by name, birthday, unique identifier, and/or assessment date.The display 400 further includes a control 404 to create a new patientprofile. The display 400 may also include an existing patient table 402listing existing patient profiles in rows 421-424. Each row is dividedinto the following sortable and/or filterable columns: a first namecolumn 431 containing the first name of an already-assessed patient, alast name column 432 containing the last name of an already-assessedpatient, a date-of-birth column 433 containing the date of birth of analready-assessed patient, a patient ID column 434 containing the patientID of an already-assessed patient, a “#” column 435 containing thenumber of wound assessments performed on the already-assessed patient,and a number of active orders column 436 containing indicated the numberof orders for new assessments that are currently pending. Orders for newassessments might come, for example, from an Electronic Medical Records(EMR) system attached to the server computer 106. In the sample display400 shown in FIG. 4, row 421 indicates that patient Harriet Jones has atleast one wound that has been previously assessed by the facility, andthat Harriet Jones' date of birth is Jan. 15, 1976 and patient ID is9990532, and that Harriet Jones has two assessments completed but noorders for another assessment. (It will be appreciated that the patientinformation used in the displays and examples herein are fictitious.)While the contents of patient table 400 are included to pose acomprehensible example, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthe facility can use a patient table having columns corresponding todifferent and/or a larger number of attributes, as well as a largernumber of rows to accommodate additional patients. Attributes that maybe used include, for example, number of wounds actively being monitored,date and/or time of the most recent assessment, date and/or time of thefirst assessment, name or other identifier of the caregiver that gavethe last assessment, etc. For a variety of reasons, certain values maybe omitted from the patient table.

When the user clicks on one of the rows 421-424 of already-assessedpatients listed (i.e., to selected a particular patient profile), thefacility displays additional information on the selected patient. Forexample, FIG. 5A is a display diagram showing a sample wound informationdisplay 500 typically presented by the facility for review of woundsalready being monitored or assessed by the facility. Display 500includes a patient identifier 502, a wound identifier area 504, a visitarea 508, an image area 510, an analytics area 514, and a woundmeasurement area 518. The wound identifier area 504 includes a button505 for adding a new wound profile, as well as buttons 506 a-506 c, eachof which correspond to a wound of the patient that is being monitored.As shown in FIG. 5A, the buttons 506 a-506 c identify the correspondingmonitored wound by anatomical reference. For example, button A refers toa wound found at or near the sacrum of the patient. The buttons 506a-506 c may also be color-coded. When the user selects one of thebuttons 506 a-506 c, the facility displays information related to theselected wound, such as the most recent wound image 510, analytics 514showing progress of the selected wound, and wound measurements 518. Thesample display 500 of FIG. 5A shows a display after a user has selectedwound A (by clicking on button 506 a).

The visit area 508 displays the dates and times of previous assessmentsfor the selected wound. The user may select a particular visit to reviewthe wound assessment from the selected visit. The visit area includes abutton 509 for creating a new visit for the selected wound. The woundimage area 510 displays an image of the wound W. The default image isthat from the most recent assessment (or visit), although the user canview wound images from earlier visits by selecting the particular visitin the visit area 508. The wound image area 510 can include buttons 512that allow the user to manipulate the displayed image. In someembodiments, the wound image area 510 may include display athree-dimensional model of the wound. The wound measurement area 518displays one or more wound measurements, such as wound area, woundvolume, wound outline, the maximum depth of the wound, the minimum depthof the wound, etc. In display 500, the wound measurement area 518 isblank, as the user has not yet generated new capture data. As shown inthe display 500′ of FIG. 9 (discussed below), the facility will displaythe measurements once the user has captured new wound data. Theanalytics area 514 displays additional information to the user based onthe facility's analysis of the wound measurements over time. Forexample, the analytics area 514 of the display 500 shows a graphplotting the measured area of wound A over time. The graph indicatesthat wound A has been previously assessed two times, and that the areaof the wound increased between those assessments. The analytics area 514may include a button 516 that, when selected, displays a drop-down menuof wound measurement options that may be plotted over time and displayedfor the user.

In some embodiments, the facility may enable the user to couple (i.e.,pair, associate, etc.) the capture device 102 to the facility so thatthe capture device 102 may automatically send captured data to aspecific patient profile in the storage device 108 that is accessible bythe facility for processing. In FIG. 5A, for example, the display 500includes a button 522 that, when selected by the user, causes thefacility to dynamically generate coupling information. FIG. 5B is adisplay diagram showing a sample display 550 having coupling information556 that may be presented by the facility to the user. In FIG. 5B, thecoupling information 556 is displayed as a QR code. In otherembodiments, however, the coupling information 556 can have otherconfigurations, such as a bar code, text that the user may enter into aninput element of the capture device 102, etc. The user may scan orotherwise detect the coupling information 556 with the capture device102 (e.g., via the image sensor 110 of the capture device 102) toautomatically place the capture device 102 in communication with aparticular patient profile in the storage device 108. The couplinginformation 556, for example, can include a network identifier andpassword (e.g., an SSID and SSID password), an Internet address (e.g.,the URL for the interface module), and a patient identifier fordirecting the capture device 102 to the particular patient profile atthe storage device 108. Once the capture device 102 is wirelesslycoupled to the server computer 106 and/or storage device 108, the usercan position the capture device 102 near the wound being assessed andbegin capturing wound data. Each time the user actuates the actuator 118(FIG. 1) on the capture device 102, the capture device 102 automaticallypopulates the patient profile at the storage device 108 with a new dataset. The user may select button 554 to view the captured images and/ordata. Each new data set may be displayed by the facility as anunassigned image button, as discussed in greater detail below withreference to FIG. 6.

It will be appreciated that the coupling information 556 may beencrypted to protect the patient's confidential information. Forexample, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5B, the QR code 556 isencrypted such that a screen shot of display 552 will not provide thecoupling information and/or provide access to a recipient of the screenshot.

The present technology includes additional methods for coupling thecapture device 102 to the facility. For example, in some embodiments,some or all of the coupling information may be received from anidentifier on the patient, such as a patient wristband. As anotherexample, in some embodiments the facility may display a list of capturedevices 102 available on the network 140 (FIG. 1) (e.g., a plurality ofcapture devices 102 may be dispersed amongst different examination roomsin a medical treatment center, and at least a portion of those devicesmay be coupled to the same wireless network). The facility may display(e.g., via the interface module) each of the capture devices 102available, and enable the user to select the appropriate capture device102 for pairing. The facility may then solicit the user to input apatient identifier and/or additional information for connecting thecapture device 102 to the facility and/or server computer 106. In yetanother embodiment, the capture device 102 may be placed in directcommunication with the personal computing device 104 (e.g., via a USBcord), and the user may input pairing information into a local programexecuting on the personal computing device 104 and/or a web-basedinterface executing on the remote server computer 106.

In some embodiments (not shown), the wound information display 500includes a button that, when selected by the user, causes a live imagefrom the capture device 102 (FIG. 1) to be displayed on the interfacemodule. For example, should the personal computing device 104 also bepresent at the point-of-care, the user may utilize the display of thepersonal computing device 104 to properly position the capture device102 from the wound. In other embodiments, the capture device 102 has adisplay and/or the facility does not display a live image of the woundon the personal computing device 104 during image capture. The facilitymay further include a button (not shown) on the image capture display(not shown) that, once the user is finished capturing wound data, theuser may select the button to begin assigning the captured images(containing the image data and the depth data) to the correspondingwound profile. For example, FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a sampledisplay 600 typically presented by the facility to display one or morecaptured images and enable the user to assign newly-captured wound datawith a pre-existing wound. As shown in FIG. 6, the display 600 includesa new image area 604, a wound identifier area 612 having buttons 614(similar to buttons 506 a-506 c in FIG. 5A), an image area 616, and atrace button 618. The new image area 604 includes an “unassigned” area603 having buttons 606 a-606 e, each of which correspond to a new orunassigned image. Each of the buttons 606 a-606 e may include a small,preview image of the captured image so that the user can easilydistinguish between the new images. To assign a new image to a woundprofile, the user may drag and drop the button 606 a-606 e over thecorresponding button 614 a-c in the wound area. The facility alsodisplays a discard button 615 for the user to remove unwanted images.

Once the captured data has been assigned to a corresponding woundprofile, the user may select the trace button 618, which causes thefacility to display an interface that solicits the user to manuallytrace the outline of the wound. In certain embodiments, the facilityutilizes image processing techniques to automatically determine anoutline or outline of the wound. In such embodiments, the facility maynevertheless solicit the user to view and edit the automaticallygenerated outline. FIG. 7, for example, is a display diagram showing asample display 700 typically presented by the facility to display acaptured image of a wound W and solicit the user to outline the outlineof the wound within the captured image. The display 700 includes animage identifier area 704 and an editing area 705. The identifier areaincludes buttons 706 a-706 c (only buttons 706 b and 706 c shown in FIG.7) that identify the image (with a preview image) and wound (e.g., bycolor and/or by reference letters “B” and “C” that correspond to aparticular wound profile). When a user selects a button 706 a-706 c, anenlarged view of the image appears in the editing area 705. The editingarea 705 includes editing buttons 710 that enable the user to edit ormanipulate the image. Button 710 a, for example, enables the user toclick various points around the outline of the wound W, and the facilityautomatically displays a line (line “a”) connecting the points. Button710 b enables the user to draw a continuous line (line “b”) around theoutline of the wound W. As shown in FIG. 7, the resulting outline linecan be a combination of one or both techniques. In other embodiments,the facility may include other editing techniques. For example, in aparticular embodiment, the facility may display a suggested outline linefor the user and one or more buttons for adjusting the automaticallygenerated line.

Once the outline data is generated (either automatically by thefacility, manually by the user's input, or a combination of both), thefacility then utilizes the captured data (image data and depth data) andthe outline data to determine one or more wound measurements, which insome embodiments may include generating a three-dimensional model of thewound. The facility may then update the corresponding wound identifierbutton 706 a-706 c to display the determined wound measurements. FIG. 8,for example, is a display diagram showing an enlarged view of the button706 c shown in the display 700 of FIG. 7 after being updated to includethe newly determined wound measurements 802.

FIG. 9 is an updated version 500′ of the sample wound informationdisplay 500 (FIG. 5A) after the facility has updated the measurementarea 518′, image area 510′, and analytics area 514′ to include the newcapture data, outline data, and wound measurements. Updated graph 514′,for example, includes an additional data point (as compared to the graphof FIG. 5A).

The facility may optionally include a button 520 that enables the userto enter additional notes characterizing a wound and/or the patient. Forexample, FIGS. 10A-10D are display diagrams showing a sample display1000 presented by the facility to the user when the user selects button520. The display 1000 includes an identifier area 1004 having a patientbutton 1003 and wound identifier buttons 1006 a-c (similar to buttons506 a-c), and a notation area 1005. After selecting any of the patientbuttons 1003 and wound identifier buttons 1006 a-c, the facilitydisplays a notation area 1005 solicits the user for input regarding theselected patient and/or wound. Display 1000 shows a sample notation area1005 after the user has selected the patient button 1003. As shown inFIGS. 10A-10D, the notation area 1005 can include various topic areas1010, 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050, 1060, 1070, and 1080 (referred tocollectively as “topic areas 1010-1080”), such as admission anddischarge, medical history, investigation history, wound appearance,wound margins, surrounding skin, exudate, and wound pain. It will beappreciated that the facility may display more or fewer notation topics.The facility may divide each of the topic areas 1010-1080 into one ormore sub-topics (the sub-topics for topic area 1020 are labeled 1022 a,1022 b, etc.), and each of the sub-topics may include one or more inputoptions (the input options for sub-topic 1022 a are labeled 1024 a,etc.). In some embodiments, the facility may include a text field (notshown) that enables the user to enter personalized notes. When the useris finished, the user may select the “done” button 1090 to return to theupdated wound information display 500′ (FIG. 9).

The facility also enables the user to generate a report one or more ofthe wounds, or the patient, generally. For example, FIG. 11 is a displaydiagram showing a sample display 1100 typically presented by thefacility when the user selects the “create report” 526 button on thewound information display 500, 500′, and FIGS. 12A-12D, for example, aredisplay diagrams showing a sample display 1200 typically presented bythe facility to display the generated report.

Although the facility is described above as providing the user a meansof interacting by displaying one or more selectable buttons, it will beappreciated that other means of interacting with or controlling thefacility, personal computing device, and/or capture device are withinthe scope of the present technology. For example, in some embodiments,in addition to or in place of any of the buttons described above, theuser may interact with the facility with audio (via a microphone) and/ortactile commands (e.g., a foot control, etc.).

In those embodiments of capture devices 102 having a plurality ofstructured light elements (such as lasers), the capture device 102 maybe configured to capture data based on a predetermined capture sequence(for example, instructions executed by the computing device 116 (FIG.1)). An example capture sequence utilized by the capture device 102starts with an RGB (or texture) frame captured while the light source114 (FIG. 1) emits light. The RGB frame is followed by capture ofindividual frames for each structured light element (a frame is capturedwhile each structured light element is turned on by itself), as well asa frame for the combination of structured light elements. During captureof the RGB frame, the structured light elements 112 do not emit light.Likewise, during capture of the structured light frames, the lightsource 114 does not emit light. However, post-capture processing methodsrequire that only one type of light source (regardless of the number oflight sources per type) is enabled during the capture sequence. Existingimaging devices meet this requirement by configuring the image sensor tooperate in a “single frame capture mode” (i.e., pauses are insertedbetween consecutive frames of the capture sequence). However, because ofthe added pauses, “single frame capture mode” results in an increase intotal capture time. To address this shortcoming, the image sensor 110may be configured to operate in video mode (continuous streaming) whichreduce capture times because it eliminates the pauses and “pipelines”the imaging processing steps. Suitable image sensors that operate invideo mode include, for example, a 5-megapixel Omnivision OV5640 imagesensor. Such image sensors, however, often utilize a rolling shutter(i.e., only a fraction of the sensor rows are exposed to light at anyinstant). For some of the image sensors that utilize a rolling shutter,the end the current frame and the beginning of the next frame overlap,and thus two disjoint fractions of the sensor rows are exposed to lightat the same instant. This overlap results in cross-talk betweensuccessive frames. To avoid the potential for such cross-talk to reducethe utility of the captured frames, a specific capture sequence isemployed and one or more multiplicative binary masks are applied to thestructured light frames that reject the cross-talk from the previousframe (and also the next frame in cases where illumination for the nextframe is pre-enabled) and also range gate the laser returns to certaindepths (e.g., between 200 mm and 350 mm). In these and otherembodiments, the image sensor 110 may additionally or alternatively beconfigured to operate in a “single frame capture mode.” Additionally,because the capture device 102 is a handheld device and relative motioninevitably occurs between the capture device 102 and the patient overthe course of the capture sequence, the facility and/or capture device102 of the present technology may include one or more motioncompensation algorithms to reduce or eliminate the negative effect ofsuch motion on the resulting image and/or data quality.

Conclusion

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that theabove-described facility may be straightforwardly adapted or extended invarious ways. For example, the facility may use a variety of userinterfaces to collect various information usable in determiningvaluations from users and other people knowledgeable about homes, and avariety of user interfaces to display refined valuations. While theforegoing description makes reference to particular embodiments, thescope of the invention is defined solely by the claims that follow andthe elements recited therein.

While computing devices configured as described above are typically usedto support the operation of the facility, one of ordinary skill in theart will appreciate that the facility may be implemented using devicesof various types and configurations, and having various components. Forexample, in some instances the capture devices 102 and the personalcomputing devices 104 may communicate directly with each other (inaddition to communicating with the server computer 106) through a wiredor wireless connection. Such a configuration could provide the user alive image of the wound faster and/or provide a higher quality livepreview image. In such embodiments, suitable restrictions can beadministered when sending and storing patient data to ensureconfidentiality. In another variation, the capture device 102 is only incommunication (wired or wirelessly) with the computing device 104, andthe computing device 104 communicates with the server computer 106(e.g., via cellular data protocols), thereby serving as a pass throughfor patient data without permanently storing the patient data. In yetanother variation, the facility may route communications from thecapture devices 102 and the computing devices 104 through a commonaccess point, rather than the two separate access points (first andsecond access points 140, 142) shown in FIG. 1. Additionally, thefacility may provide the user with audit information for the assessments(e.g., who performed the assessments, who accessed the assessments,etc.).

Although not required, aspects of the present technology have beendescribed in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as routines executed by a general-purpose computer, a personalcomputer, a server, or other computing system. The present technologycan also be embodied in a special purpose computer or data processorthat is specifically programmed, configured, or constructed to performone or more of the computer-executable instructions explained in detailherein.

I/we claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating ananatomical surface feature (“surface feature”), the method comprising:receiving, at a non-volatile storage device, raw data characterizing thesurface feature, wherein the data is generated at and received from aremote image capture device; according to instructions executed at aprocessor of a remote server computer and/or a personal computingdevice, determining an area of the surface feature and a volume of thesurface feature based on the raw data; storing, at the non-volatilestorage device remote from the image capture device, the determined areaand the determined volume of the surface feature; and displaying thedetermined area and the determined volume on a web-based interface thatis accessible via a personal computing device.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein none of the raw data, the determined area, and the determinedvolume are stored in a non-volatile memory of the image capture device.3. The method of claim 1 wherein none of the raw data, the determinedarea, and the determined volume are stored at a non-volatile memory ofthe personal computing device.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein theimage capture device only communicates with the personal computingdevice through the server computer.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein thedata includes image data characterizing the surface feature and depthdata characterizing a depth of the surface feature.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the data includes image data characterizing the surfacefeature, depth data characterizing a depth of the surface feature, andwherein the method further includes automatically determining an outlineof the surface feature based on the raw data.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising obtaining, at the web-based interface, user inputidentifying an outline of the surface feature.
 8. The method of claim 1wherein the image capture device is a stereo camera configured togenerate three-dimensional image data characterizing the surfacefeature.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, at theserver computer, a report characterizing the surface feature, whereinthe report is made available for download to the personal computingdevice via the web-based interface.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising obtaining, at the web-based interface, user inputcharacterizing the surface feature.
 11. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising storing, at the persistent storage device, the user input.12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded withinstructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor toperform a method for evaluating an anatomical surface feature (“surfacefeature”), the method comprising: receiving, at a server computer, datacharacterizing the surface feature, wherein the data is generated at andreceived from a remote image capture device; with a processor at theserver computer, determining, at the server computer, an area of thesurface feature and a volume of the surface feature based on the data;storing, at a non-volatile memory of the server computer, the determinedarea and volume of the surface feature; displaying the determined areaand volume of the surface feature on a web-based interface that isaccessible via a personal computing device.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein none of the rawdata, the determined area, and the determined volume are stored at anon-volatile memory of the image capture device
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the image capturedevice only communicates with the personal computing device through theserver computer.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 12 wherein the data includes image data characterizing thesurface feature and depth data characterizing a depth of the surfacefeature.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 12 wherein none of the raw data, the determined area, and thedetermined volume are stored at a non-volatile memory of the personalcomputing device.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 12 wherein the data includes image data characterizingthe surface feature, depth data characterizing a depth of the surfacefeature, and wherein the method further comprises determining an outlineof the surface feature based on the raw data.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the method furthercomprising obtaining, at the web-based interface, user input identifyingan outline of the surface feature.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the image capturedevice is a stereo camera configured to generate three-dimensional imagedata characterizing the surface feature.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the method furthercomprising generating, at the server computer, a report characterizingthe surface feature, wherein the report is made available for downloadto the personal computing device via the web-based interface.
 21. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the methodfurther comprising obtaining, at the web-based interface, user inputcharacterizing the surface feature.
 22. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the method furthercomprising storing, at the persistent storage device, the user input.23. A computer-implemented method for evaluating an anatomical surfacefeature (“surface feature”), the method comprising: generating couplinginformation for enabling an image capture device to send information toa particular patient profile in a remote non-volatile storage device;receiving, at the patient profile in the storage device, raw datacharacterizing the surface feature, wherein the data is generated at andreceived from the image capture device; according to instructionsexecuted at a processor of a remote server computer, determining an areaof the surface feature and a volume of the surface feature based on theraw data; storing, at a persistent storage device remote from the imagecapture device, the determined area and the determined volume of thesurface feature; and displaying the determined area and the determinedvolume to a user.
 24. The method of claim 23 wherein displaying thedetermined area and the determined volume includes displaying thedetermined area and the determined volume on a web-based interface. 25.The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying the couplinginformation to a user.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein displayingthe coupling information to a user includes displaying amachine-readable optical element.
 27. The method of claim 25 whereindisplaying the coupling information includes displaying a QR code thatis readable by the capture device.
 28. The method of claim 25 whereindisplaying the coupling information includes a displaying a bar codethat is readable by the capture device.
 29. The method of claim 23wherein the coupling information is readable by the capture device. 30.The method of claim 23 wherein the coupling information includes awireless network identifier, a wireless network passcode, and aparticular patient profile located at the storage device for storing theraw data, determined area, and/or the determined volume.
 31. The methodof claim 23 wherein the coupling information includes a wireless networkidentifier, a wireless network passcode, a particular patient profilelocated at the storage device for storing the raw data, determined area,and/or the determined volume, and an Internet address for a web-basedinterface.